Wednesday, April 22
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Good morning,
Today we have stories about a surge in coronavirus cases in Hall County tied to a meat processing plant there, a new tool to help boost daily testing by thousands and the Chinese government spreading misinformation as well as fear during the global pandemic.
Your top local stories
Check out an interactive version of this map on our website.
In Omaha
- Tens of thousands of Union Pacific employees face steep pay cuts through August as the company deals with unprecedented losses.
- Area hospitals are using plasma from coronavirus survivors to treat current patients.
- In its first meeting since March, the Omaha City Council discussed how the city could get benefits from the CARES Act, which it’s currently being excluded from as the city has fewer than 500,000 people.
- Nebraska Crossing in fact will not open this Friday, management clarified. Instead, store owners will use this week to get ready, disinfecting surfaces and preparing for socially distanced shopping.
- Marketing experts offered tips for businesses to adapt as coronavirus continues to keep them shuttered.
- Four of the nine new coronavirus-related deaths reported yesterday occurred in Douglas County.
- A metro-area McDonald’s donated 10,000 pounds of beef, yogurt, liquid egg whites and milk to Food Bank for the Heartland.
- A Millard Mexican restaurant has started a drive-in movie night to provide a fun activity and a sense of community.
- Former Creighton basketball walk-on John Klein, now an anesthesiologist in Des Moines, flew to New York City earlier this month to help aid the United States’ coronavirus hot spot.
Around the State
- A Grand Island meat processing plant is now tied to 237 cases of Covid-19, 39% of Hall County’s total cases. Gov. Pete Ricketts has said he would not ask the plant to close. Grand Island mayor Roger Steele has said he will talk to Ricketts about changes to directed health measures and what options, including closing the plant, could be available to help limit spread.
- Nebraska National Guard, already deployed to help with coronavirus testing around the state, have now been deployed to assist Food Bank for the Heartland with food distribution.
- Schools across the state find ways to give high school seniors a proper send-off as proms, graduation and other celebrations are canceled.
- Gov. Ricketts to hold daily press briefing at 2 p.m. The stream will also have Spanish subtitles.
What to do during quarantine?
From our list of things to do during quarantine:
Nebraska Artists are Everywhere!
Many artists in the Museum of Nebraska Art’s collection are also represented in the stables of Nebraska’s finest full-service galleries. See see some of your favorites holding their own with national and international artists: in Omaha: Modern Arts Midtown, Gallery 72 and Anderson O’Brien Fine Art; in Lincoln, Lux Center for the Arts, Kiechel Fine Art and The Burkholder Project Gallery and Cooperative.
What’s happening in the United States?
California deaths came weeks before first known U.S. cases
- Santa Clara County in California now says it had a coronavirus-related death on Feb. 6, weeks before the previously thought first death in Seattle on Feb. 26.
- The House sent a $484 billion relief package, including $320 billion to replenish the Payment Protection Program, to the Senate. President Donald Trump said in a meeting with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that states and cities would receive funds from “phase four” of stimulus.
- Trump indicated a 60-day ban on most green cards could be passed as soon as today. Families that have been waiting years to reunite and companies that rely on foreign labor expressed anger and concern.
- Black, mostly Democrat, mayors have been pitted against their white, Republican governor to make decisions about how to implement a controversial decision to reopen many aspects of the state’s economy by Friday.
What’s happening across the world?
China responded to pandemic by sowing misinformation, fear
- In addition to promoting coverage showing other countries struggling through the pandemic, Chinese agents spread messages via social media to incite panic and fear.
Check out more coverage online at TheReader.com
The Omaha Reader
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